


The Devil You Know

by esmerod



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Aaravos is the devil, Captivity, Coda, Episode Tag, Illusions, Implied/Referenced Dubious Consent, M/M, S1E8 the cursed caldera
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 14:44:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18075362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esmerod/pseuds/esmerod
Summary: Coda s1e8: Viren leaves Runaan alone with the mirror. What does he see when he looks into it?





	The Devil You Know

**Author's Note:**

> not beta-read (yet)

The human tried to bribe him with food. Pathetic.

Runaan would have spit in his face if it hadn't been such a waste of dearly needed saliva. Because no matter how much he hated to admit it, he was thirsty. Incredibly thirsty, parched and nearly delirious to be precise. And the human, wretched creature that he was, had sniffed out that weakness like a hound and offered him respite.

Of course, he had declined. Because what else could he do? He was who he was. He had never expected to return from this assignment yet still couldn't deny that moment of exaltation when he'd realised the dark mage's spell hadn't actually killed but merely incapacitated him. But it was shameful to feel relieve over his own survival when he knew that his companions must have fallen. So, he bore the thirst and the torturously slow necrotization of his own left arm and banned all thoughts of those left behind.

A noise interrupted his thoughts. Something heavy was scraping across the floor, it had Runaan frown in suspicion.

Then, the door opened, and he was blinded by the brightness of the light outside his dreary cell. The outline of something big became visible and the scraping continued. The sound made him want to flinch, but Runaan avoided showing any outward sign of discomfort. He merely observed how the human positioned the object in front of him.

It was hard to tell what the dark mage's intention was. He had said he had a proposition to make, and here it seemed to have arrived. The human stepped aside, looking down on Runaan. "In a moment I will remove this cover and will tell me what you know. Understood?"

Runaan didn't respond.

The human knelt down and upended a pouch of coins in front of him. "I've brought something that I hope you will find motivating."

Runaan snorted. Pathetic human, indeed. "You are more foolish than I thought. Don't you know only humans can be bribed."

"Oh, this isn't a bribe." The mage's eyes gleamed with something sinister, and a feeling of dark foreboding began spreading in Runaan's chest. 

"It's a threat. Go on, take a closer look."

His eyes travelled downwards and eventually widened in shock when realization came over him. "You're a monster."

"You're mistaken. I'm a pragmatist," the human answered.

* * *

 

Runaan had kept his mouth shut and eventually the human left. Unfortunately, he hadn't bothered removing the mirror. And even though it was still covered, Runaan couldn't supress a shudder. He could feel its eerie power seeping into him with every breath he took.

It was a mystery to him how the human couldn't know what it was, or at least feel its influence. But then, that was humans for you, they had no sense for the delicate balance of the things between sky and earth.

He regarded the mirror suspiciously out of the corner of his eye. Part of him wanted to avoid looking at it directly. He remembered the stories that grandmother had told him when he was but a wee elfling. It was about the Archtraitor that devoured your soul if you looked at his reflection in the mirror for too long. Runaan huffed. Of course, the tale was mostly hogwash, made up by the crones to teach little ones about respect for the magical arts and their boundaries, but there was still a true core to it. After all, Archtraitor Aaravos existed, and Runaan had unwittingly found himself face to face with his mirror.

The cover rustled and Runaan flinched violently. Alright, calm down, he told himself, it was nothing. But his gaze kept being drawn back to the cover. Somehow, he couldn't shake the feeling that it was rustling in a non-existent airstream.

Runaan shook his head at himself. Oh, it was ironic that the human's trite 'proposition' essentially succeeded at putting him more on edge than any of his other half-baked attempts at torture could ever have done.

Then, the cover fell. 

Runaan didn't know how or why, instead he could only stare as it slowly slid to the ground and revealed the mirror's reflecting surface. Runaan gaped at his own shocked expression, before he could force himself to get his bearings back under control. After all, he was a servant of the Dragon Queen, the honourable leader of the Moonshadow assassins, not some scared child. And if the Archtraitor wanted to test him, then he'd hold his best against him. He raised his chin in defiance and his reflection did the same.

But then, nothing more happened.

It was hard to tell how much time passed while he was assessing the image of himself, shackled to the wall, staring back. Experimentally, he rattled his chains, but the imprisoned elf in the mirror did exactly the same, until he didn't…

Runaan did a double take and strained the length of his chains to get a better look at what was happening, because his reflection and he, they were no longer in sync! Instead the Runaan in the mirror was staring at a shadow that was getting longer and longer.

Oh, this had been a bad idea! He should have listened to his grandma and never looked at the mirror. Now he had provoked the devil! He turned his face away, but it was too late. The newcomer had arrived and was now standing next to Runaan's reflection.

It was a tall elf wearing a dark cloak with a hood. He studied the chained-up mirror Runaan and then lightly trailed his star-speckled hand along the necrotized arm, only to stop at the binding. The real Runaan was torn between looking anywhere but the mirror and at the same time keeping an eye on the proceedings his counterfeit found himself subjected to.

When the elf drew a rune over the binding and it promptly fell off, Runaan couldn't help himself but take a startled breath. His mirror version seemed similarly surprised because it stared at the hooded elf with confusion and something akin to reverence.

Runaan's face contorted into a displeased frown. The Archtraitor was trying to tempt him, but he wouldn't succeed so easily. Still, a small voice at the back of his head made him check whether his own binding was still in place; it was. So, it was all just illusions. He snorted and turned his face away again.

Meanwhile, the hooded elf had stepped right in front of the mirror's arched frame. A slight smirk was grazing his lips and he was looking at Runaan – the real Runaan – as if he could see him. Then he lowered his hood and waited.

Runaan sighed. He knew he couldn't ignore him forever but maybe until the puny human returned. That, though, might not be the wisest choice either. He bit his lip. Would the two mages be able to communicate? A dark alliance between those two was something that needed to be avoided, so his human captor had to stay in the dark about the mirror's true purpose.

His gaze returned to the mirror, and the unfitting reflection seemed pleased.

The Archtraitor's light eyes studied him, just like, in return, Runaan was assessing him. He hadn't been aware that the Archtraitor was of the Startouch kin. He had only ever been described as a master of all six primal sources, incredibly powerful and equally shrewd. But then, his whole appearance wasn't what he had expected. Somehow his own infantile notions of a dark creature that was clawed and cackling had shaped his perception, and only now he realised how mistaken he'd been.

The Archtraitor raised an eyebrow at him. He seemed amused, and something in his expression made Runaan fear that his thoughts had been far too obvious. He huffed to cover up his own embarrassment, which only seemed to make to blue lips curl up more.

Eventually, however, the lips began to move. They formed words. Runaan couldn't hear them, yet they were crystal-clear, nonetheless.

_"Free me"_

Runaan felt a shudder running down his spine. He shook his head and turned his face away once more. But it was pointless. The reflection was so prominent and alluring that even from the corner of his eyes he could make out the movement and the words that were formed.

_"Let us help each other. Both of us are trapped. And both of us want to go home."_

For the fraction of a second the image of home flared up in his mind. It was his house, and Rayla was waving at him, and, of course, his love was there too, waiting for him. Pain seized his chest and his face contorted into an angry grimace. "How dare you!" he yelled at the mirror.

But the Archtraitor only continued smirking.

_"I told you, both of us want to go home. I can see your heart."_

Runaan threw his head back as another wave of images hit him. This time he was in the kitchen. His love was sitting on a chair with a much younger Rayla on his lap, both of them tinkering with something or another. They smiled when they saw him entering.

"Enough," he groaned. "I'm not going to help you. And even if I wanted to, how could I?"

The pictures in his head vanished abruptly, which it made him feel almost bereaved. The reflection in the mirror, however, was still there, stark and glaring. _"Tell the mage."_

"What? The human? Never!" He strained his chains once more, but the Archtraitor stayed just as composed as before. _"Helping me is the only thing that will get you back to them."_

Runaan stopped struggling and slumped forward while the voice continued, _"I understand the longing for a family, a lover. I had one myself. Yet here I am, condemned to eternal loneliness. Tell the mage and you shall be united with yours."_

Runaan shook his head, but his resolve was crumbling. "I…"

He imagined his love's face full of grief and hurt. By now, he must think him dead. The message of the human king's demise would have reached the Dragon Queen, but without any of the assassins returning, it could only mean they had paid the ultimate price. His only hope was that Rayla had made it home and that she would be reunited with what was left of his family.

"I…"His throat felt so constricted and completely parched. He swallowed and took a deep breath. "I will never help you."

The Archtraitor shook his head in disappointment. _"What a pity."_ He turned and walked back to Runaan's still chained reflection. Unlike the real version of him, this one seemed much more welcoming towards the dark elf's presence because he positively beamed with relief when the manacles holding him were unlocked.

Mirror Runaan fell to the floor and huddled at the Archtraitor's feet, something that made the trepidation start pooling in the real Runaan's stomach. He observed uneasily as the Archtraitor put his long slender fingers on his mirror image's chin and started turning and studying his face. Then, he said something and mirror Runaan smiled back at him, gripping the other elf's forearms in a caressing fashion. It caused a wave of deep revulsion in the real Runaan, who could only observe helplessly when the Archtraitor's hand wandered from his face to his neck and pulled his desynced reflection closer.

"Stop that," he roared, but the pair didn't hear him - or at least pretended not to.  
Thoughtless frustration made him rattle his chains again, even though he knew it was completely pointless. "Don't do that, you have no right!"

The Archtraitor's uncanny eyes regarded him of over the fake's shoulder while continued his snuggling in the most unaffected fashion. He planted a kiss on the exposed skin in front of him, and the real Runaan was trembling in agitation.

  _"Give in,"_ the lips formed tonelessly, before their shape changed, and he wasn't looking at the Archtraitor anymore. Instead he was staring at his love, who slung his arms around his mirror version enthusiastically, placing countless little, consoling kisses over his face. Mirror Runaan cried from joy, and real Runaan could feel his heart breaking.

 _"Give in,"_ the voice said again.

A tear was running down his check, and Runaan knew that the Archtraitor had truly seen his soul.

* * *

 

He was so tired, he hadn't even heard the human's footsteps approaching. The mirror was covered again. He didn't know how or when it had happened, but it didn't matter anyway.

"Enough brooding, elf," the human announced loudly. "My patience wears thin. Tell me what you know about this relic, or I will seal your fate."

Something in Runaan almost felt relieved to be confronted with the human again. He could threaten all he wanted, but nothing ever penetrated quite as deeply as the Archmage's stare. So, he ignored as he always did and even felt a spark of vindication when the human responded with predicable anger. He pulled the cover, and Runaan saw himself reflected in the mirror's surface once again. Only that by now he felt that the creature looking back at him was so far removed from who he remembered himself being that he could only retort, "You have succeeded."

"Oh, have I?" The human sounded eager.

"That mirror? You have found something worse than death," Runaan heard himself saying. Somehow his reflection on the other side looked more real than he felt right now.

"Then, tell me. What is it?"

He took a deep breath and knew that he was sealing his fate once more, but at least the human couldn't touch his soul. So, with as much determination as he could muster, he said, "I will never help you."

"Then you are of no use to me," the mage retorted darkly. He grabbed his staff and started chanting.

Runaan exhaled and broke eye contact with his reflection. Better the devil you knew, then the one on the other side of the mirror.

 

**The end**

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are appreciated ♥


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